MAGIX Music Maker 2016 Review

Music Maker

Music Maker by MAGIX lets you create your own music and sound, produce your own songs and all very easily using your PC. Although the software at first glance looks like it will be complicated, it really isn’t. Yes, you will have to spend a bit of time getting acquainted and learning it, but that is the same of any new software you would use.

Installation is straightforward from DVD or digital download but you do require a lot of disc space, around 7.5GB, a minimum of 2GB RAM and 2Ghz processor. You will also need Windows 7 or above to use (I am using it with Windows 10).

So after installing, it was time to start using. So I started by watching some of the very handy tutorial videos (you can find them here).

Music Maker comes with 1000s of loops and sounds for you to create your own track from scratch or edit an existing track and comes with some samples (jazz, hip hop, rick, techno etc.) that you can play with.

It has a wide range of instruments you can use to add into your tracks and with it all being drop and drag it is very simple to use, even for a beginner with no musical experience.

The screen layout is very easy to understand and you drag your loops, instruments etc. on to the arranger / mixer. Once you have your basic track / loops you can then start adding it more loops, instruments, vocals or sounds, rearrange them, cut bits out, fade bits in/out etc. and all in a few clicks of the mouse. Once laid out you can then record your track or playback to preview it.

Once you are happy with your track you use the Song Maker to create your finished track and can export it into a variety of different formats (mp3, WAV, WMA etc.) or can burn it straight to a CD.

Overall I found Music Maker to be very powerful, fast and easy to use (even for me as a beginner). It is great fun to use, being able to add in your own sounds to existing tracks, changing pitch and tempo or even adding echo and reverb (among other effects). While it would be a great program for people who have a bigger interest in creating their own sounds (amateurs and professionals) it is also great to play around with and finding out just how easy some of the effects in your favourite pop tunes can be created.

I have only been using it a little while and can see how powerful it is and still have a lot more functions to try and see what they do. One feature I haven’t tried yet is the free MAGIX Audio Remote app for iOS and Android which allows you to control various functions in the Music Maker software.

Highlights:

New Mediapool for an even better overview when making music

6 virtual instruments

Endless fun

2 new virtual instruments: Concert Grand & Pop Drums

Thousands of sounds & loops (6 Soundpools)

99 tracks for small and big projects

VST3 & VST2 interface

Basic audio effects

If you are just starting out or already create your own songs I can highly recommend MAGIX Music Maker, very easy to use. I think it would make a great program for school music lessons as well!